


Sunset

by EurydicaeQuercus



Series: Enasalin is supposed to mean Victory [4]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Unrequited Crush, talking about feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 17:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EurydicaeQuercus/pseuds/EurydicaeQuercus
Summary: Velanna has always had a certain admiration for the Warden Commander, Enasalin Mahariel. As it begins to develop into something more, she finds herself feeling increasingly disant from her fellow Wardens, and the Commander herself.





	Sunset

A seemingly endless field of blue flowers stretched out in front of her. The wind blew warm through her hair. It was a beautiful day, and yet...Velanna still felt a distinct annoyance as she sat looking out over the field. She should be  _ doing _ something! Not sitting here pointlessly, letting the day pass her by. This was a useless exercise, but Commander Mahariel had ordered it and she respected the woman. So she just sat, staring straight ahead, watching. Her fingers were beginning to itch. She scowled. 

There was a quiet chuckle from behind her. Velanna turned towards the source of her irritation. The Warden Commander was sitting a short way behind her, leaning against a tall oak tree, the only one for miles, and looking at her with a bemused smile. Velanna would have snapped at her—but she repressed the urge. Mahariel was obviously doing this for a reason, even if she increasingly suspected that reason was to annoy her. She turned back to her view of the field of flowers with a huff. 

“What’s troubling you Velanna?” asked Mahariel, her voice tinged with a touch of laughter, but sincere all the same. 

Velanna sighed. 

“I simply...I don’t see the  _ point _ of this Warden Commander!” she said, now allowing her frustration to come to a boil. “Are we waiting for darkspawn? You said this would help me.” 

Velanna heard quiet laughter from behind her. If it were from anyone else she would have become furious, but she was used to Mahariel’s light-hearted nature, and waited patiently for an answer. 

“Velanna, how many times must I tell you that you can call me by my first name before you will listen?” she asked, and Velanna could see her moving from her seat behind her. 

“I...cannot, Warden Commander,” said Velanna, with a sigh. “You have achieved a position of great respect, despite the shems in your way. You should be honoured for that.” 

Mahariel smiled and shook her head. 

“In public, yes, I would agree with you,” she said, a kind of sadness in her voice. “But are we not both Dalish, Velanna? Should we not address each other as such?”

“Alright...Enasalin.”

‘Victory.’ A fitting name for a Grey Warden. Velanna had never asked Enasalin why she had left her clan. It seemed wrong to think of her hunting with her clan-mates and listening to the stories of the Hahren around a campfire. It was like she was born to be a Warden—perhaps her parents had thought so too. Enasalin...a worthy name. Yes, she could get used to calling her that. 

“You still haven’t told me the point of this waiting,” she said, still not entirely pleased about this exercise in pointlessness. 

“Ah, yes,” said Enasalin, now looking out over the flowers, just like Velanna had earlier. “You know, you still haven’t written in that book I gave you.”

“W-what does that have to do with anything?” she spluttered, not expecting the sudden change in topic. 

“I wondered whether you simply hadn’t had the time, so I’ve given you some.”

“I...see,” said Velanna, now quiet once more. “It’s not that, Enasalin.” 

She looked at the ground, blue blossoms all around her. Enasalin seemed to have a particular love for the colour blue, just like Velanna had for the colour green. 

The journal still sat heavy in her travel bag, it’s pages still blank. She had looked at it many times and attempted to write something worthwhile inside, but every time, something stopped her. 

“The book is...precious to me, you know,” she said, and she meant it. “It was a lovely gift. I just...cannot bring myself to write in it.” 

“You have no ideas?” asked Enasalin, looking at her with curiosity. 

“No!” said Velanna, a touch offended by the idea. “No, it’s—this book will be my legacy, don’t you see that? What could possibly be worthy of its pages?”

“I see,” said Enasalin, a smile now alighting her features. 

She then bent down and pluck one of the blue flowers from the ground, holding it up to the light. It was the same brilliant colour as the vallaslin that adorned her face, and the sunlight shining down on her seemed almost to make her glow in the light. Her long white hair flowed out behind her in the wind, and for a moment she seemed to Velanna almost like one of the Emerald Knights she heard so many stories of as a child. 

“I want you to write about this,” she said, turning back towards Velanna and holding the flower out to her. 

“That?” asked Velanna, surprised. “But it’s just a flower.”

“Only if you think it is,” said Enasalin, sitting down beside her, and still offering the flower in her hand. “I’m sure you can think of some sort of story to accompany it.” 

Velanna thought about this for a moment, about the Warden Commander and how she seemed like one of the heroes of old. A story began to form in her mind. 

“I think...you may be right,” she said, leaning over and taking the flower from her hand. 

She had a story to write. 


End file.
